Doll Factory is an electronic rock/post-punk revival band from Seattle, WA. Founded in 1998 by musicians Garrick Antikajian and Chris Roy, the band primarily works as a studio-based duo with Antikajian and Roy handling all writing, performance, and production duties, with additional musicians added to the lineup for live performances.
History
Antikajian and Roy first met as junior high school students, originally recording 4-trackcassetteportastudio demos in Eugene, Oregon and Junction City, Oregon as "Crown of Thorns" and later, "Guernica". Performing regionally at such venues as Portland, Oregon's X-Ray Cafe and Eugene, Oregon's W.O.W. Hall throughout their high school and college years, the duo recorded at Antikajian's 16-trackhome studio, releasing several demos and a self-released cassette, "Multichrome Universe", before Antikajian's departure, due to creative differences, in 1992. Roy and the remaining members of "Guernica" moved to Seattle, Washington in 1993, where the band performed a single show before breaking up. Following the breakup of "Guernica", Antikajian and Roy began to correspond, mailing demo tapes of their respective solo material between Roy's home in Seattle, Washington and Antikajian's project studio in Rancho Cucamonga, California, resulting in Antikajian's eventual move to Seattle to collaborate on new material. Eventually settling on the name "Doll Factory", the duo recorded the self-released "Premonition EP" in 1999, resulting in several compilation album and remix appearances, and attracting the attention of Neue Ästhetik Multimedia, an independent record label known for releases from Faith and the Muse, Jane Jensen, and Das Ich. Releasing "Weightless" in 2003, Doll Factory parted ways with Neue Ästhetik after the label fell victim to changes in the music industry - particularly the bankruptcy proceedings of Tower Records and their subsidiary, Bayside Distribution, who held the majority of existing copies of "Weightless" at the time. After a hiatus while Antikajian was living in New York City, the band began work on a new release, tentatively expected to be released in 2010.
Both Antikajian \ have performed - at separate times - as members of the live lineup of Sounds of Mass Production, with Roy appearing as session guitarist and Antikajian as producer on later SMP recordings. Bazinet has appeared as a live musician and on various Doll Factory recordings.
Both Antikajian and Roy are sons of visual artists; Antikajian's father is the painterSarkis Antikajian, and Roy is the son of a University of Oregon art professor and a textile artist.
The band embraces an "indie" or "DIY" aesthetic, handling everything from audio and video production and graphic design to repairing and modifying their own equipment, both out of a desire for artistic control and out of economic necessity.
